Postabortal insertion of IUD

Advances in Contraception - During 1983, 823 first trimester therapeutic abortions were performed at the University Hospital of Trondheim, Norway. Of these patients, 229 had an IUD inserted at the...     

Strong decline in female sterilization rates in Norway after the introduction of a new copayment system: a registry based study

Background  

January 1, 2002, copayment for outpatient female sterilization in Norwegian public hospitals increased from 33 euros to 750 euros after a revision of the health care system. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of the new copayment system on female sterilization epidemiology.     

The increased risk of venous thromboembolism by advancing age cannot be attributed to the higher incidence of cancer in the elderly: the Tromsø study

Whether the high incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in the elderly can be attributed to cancer is not well studied. We assessed the impact of cancer on risk of VTE in young, middle-aged and elderly. 26,094 subjects without a history of cancer or VTE were recruited from the Tromsø study. Incident cancer (n = 2,290) and VTE (n = 531) were recorded from baseline (1994–1995) through December 31st, 2009. Cox regression with cancer as time-varying exposure was used to calculate hazard ratios with 95 % confidence intervals (CI). Overt cancer was associated with a fivefold (95 %CI 4.3, 6.7) increased risk of VTE, with an age-dependent gradient from 26-fold (95 %CI 12.1, 56.5) increased in the young, ninefold (95 % CI 6.6, 12.7) increased in the middle-aged, and threefold (95 % CI 2.5, 4.5) increased risk in the elderly. The population attributable risks were 14, 27 and 18 %, respectively. Conclusion: The relative risk of VTE by cancer were higher in young compared to elderly subjects, but the proportion of VTEs in the population due to cancer did not differ much across age groups. Our findings indicate that the increased risk of VTE by advancing age cannot be attributed to higher incidence of cancer in the elderly.     

Induction of immune tolerance in patients with hemophilia A and inhibitors treated with porcine VIIIC by home therapy

Home therapy with porcine factor VIIIC was safe and effective when administered to five hemophilic patients over periods of 8 1/2, 6, 4, 3 1/2, and 2 years. No significant transfusion reactions occurred. Before treatment with porcine factor VIIIC, all five had high-level, high- responding anti-human VIIIC inhibitors initially lacking anti-porcine factor VIIIC activity. Although specific anti-porcine VIIIC inhibitors arose in all patients, these were generally transient, and only one patient became refractory to treatment. We believe that porcine factor VIIIC is the treatment of choice in patients whose inhibitors do not cross-react. All five patients lost their original anti-human VIIIC inhibitors after starting treatment with porcine VIIIC, permitting the reintroduction of human VIIIC in three of them. There has been no recurrence of anti-human VIIIC inhibitor activity during 2 to 3 years of regular treatment with human VIIIC in these patients. This suggests that tolerance to human VIIIC has arisen as a result of treatment with porcine VIIIC. Porcine VIIIC may have a role in the desensitization of some factor VIIIC inhibitor patients.     

Locus assignment of two alpha-globin structural mutants from the Caribbean basin: alpha Fort de France (alpha 45 Arg) and alpha Spanish Town (alpha 27 Val)

Two alpha-globin structural mutants were mapped to their encoding loci by in vitro translation of hybrid-selected alpha 1- and alpha 2-globin mRNA. The more highly expressed mutant, alpha Spanish Town (alpha 27Val), is encoded at the alpha 2 locus and the less expressed mutant, alpha Fort de France (alpha 45Arg), is encoded at the alpha 1 locus. These results further define the distribution of alpha-globin structural mutations within the alpha-globin gene cluster and substantiate the dominant role of the alpha 2-globin locus in alpha- globin expression.     

Seroprevalence of hepatitis B and C viruses in moderate and severe COVID-19 inpatients: A cross-sectional study at a referral center in Mexico

Introduction and ObjectivesThe emergence of SARS-CoV-2, which causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused a great impact on healthcare systems worldwide, including hepatitis B and C viruses screening and elimination programs. The high number of COVID-19 hospitalizations represent a great opportunity to screen patients for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV), which was the aim of this study.Material and MethodsCross-sectional, retrospective study performed between April 2020 and 20201 at a referral center in Mexico dedicated to the care of adults with severe/critical COVID-19. We retrieved clinical, demographic, and laboratory results from each patient´s medical records, including antibodies against HCV (anti-HCV), HBV surface antigen (HBsAg), antibodies against the HBV core antigen (anti-HBcAg), and antibodies against HBsAg (anti-HBsAg).ResultsOut of 3620 patients that were admitted to the hospital, 24 (0.66%), 4 (0.11%), and 72 (1.99%) tested positive for anti-HCV, HBsAg, and anti-HBcAg, respectively. Of all seronegative patients, 954 (27%) had undetectable anti-HBsAg and 401 (12%) had anti-HBsAg at protective levels. Blood transfusion was the most relevant risk factor. Only 9.7% of the anti-HBc positive, 25% of the HBsAg positive, and 52% of the anti-HCV positive were aware of their serological status.ConclusionsIn this study we found a prevalence of anti-HCV of 0.66%, HBsAg in 0.11%, and isolated anti-HBcAg in 1.99%. We also found that HBV vaccination coverage has been suboptimal and needs to be reinforced. This study gave us a trustworthy insight of the actual seroprevalence in Mexico, which can help provide feedback to the Hepatitis National Elimination Plan.     

Completeness and accuracy of registration of ovarian cancer in the cancer registry of Norway

Completeness of reporting and accuracy of the diagnosis of ovarian cancer from one health region in Norway to the Cancer Registry were examined. Data kept by the Cancer Registry were evaluated against discharge diagnosis data from all 8 hospitals in the health region during the period of 1987-1996. The assessment of the accuracy of the diagnosis recorded in the Cancer Registry was based on review of all medical records in the hospital setting and on slide review of all histologic diagnoses. The overall completeness of reporting ovarian cancer to the Cancer Registry was 99.6%. The organ specific completeness of registration of histologic verified ovarian cancer within the Cancer Registry was 95.3%; 0.9% was erroneously coded and 3.5% had their diagnosis changed to ovarian cancer at re-evaluation. Of all ovarian cancer cases registered at the Cancer Registry, 91% had a primary histologic diagnosis. Among 591 cases identified with a histologic diagnosis in the Cancer Registry, the accuracy of the diagnosis was estimated at 92%. Coding errors were found in 2% of these cases, while in 6% of the cases it was not possible to reproduce the original diagnosis of ovarian cancer at re-evaluation. In order to provide data of high quality for cancer surveillance a cancer registry needs several data providers, such as histopathologic laboratory reports and clinical reports. In addition, assessment of reported data through stringent quality assurance procedures within the registry are necessary for reaching a nearly 100% completeness of registration as found for ovarian cancer in the Cancer Registry of Norway.